Anyone know of an ExpressCard 34 USB 3.0 Adapter that will work with an Early-2011 17" Macbook Pro and allow a broad range of USB 3.0 External Hard Disks to work?

Thanks,
Kevin.

Hmm... isn't USB 3.0 a bit of a dud / dead protocol?

WHY do you want usb3?

In most cases, usb2 is just fine.
Usb3 drives will work plugged into a usb2 port.
Firewire is much faster.

Likely you just dont need it.

Quote desmond:

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Hmm... isn't USB 3.0 a bit of a dud / dead protocol?

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I deserve that!!

:-)

Tim - My reasoning is: just looking for fastest possible solution and USB2 and Firewire on my MBP are already well used; I happened to notice some USB3 adapters (even on Amazon.co.uk) for very reasoable prices but all seemingly for PC/Laptop only and not for MBP - hence my question.

Also - on looking for external HDs from all the main suppliers, they're all being specified with USB 3.0 these days.

I will ultimately go with external Thunderbolt SSDs when available, but in the mean time I looking for a speedy alternative that uses that ExpressCard port on my MBP so thought it wise to look for a USB 3.0 adapter for MBP and buy one of the ~£100 1TB USB3.0 external HDs available (but can't find one!)

Any pointers appreciated (and surely of use to other MBP users too?)


Kevin.

*Personally* speaking, I dislike USB for anything other than really low-rent items (mice, trackpads, graphics tablets, printers, keyboards etc).

I would get *either* (and I have both for my older MBP) a dual-eSata express card interface or a FW one.

eSata is about three times quicker than FW800 but fewer drives have eSata connections (I use WD Mybook Studios which have USB2.0/FW800/eSata ports).

Or get a FW800 one which gives you a completely new independent FW bus, which comes in handy for high throughput applications (drives, audio interfaces, video, DSP cards etc etc).

Both should be inexpensive - for example, Sonnet do a dual eSata express card for about £130, but the one I picked up from an online store for £30-ish works just as well...

I haven't looked into USB3.0 for a while, but if I recall it's still a CPU-powered interface which means the throughput is still low and it requires CPU to manage - I much prefer the direct access approach of FW or eSata which means they require no CPU load and are much better at high throughput applications.

This might change in the future when TB gets going, but that's what I'd do now...

Desmond - fantastic advice - I really appreciate it and will follow your leads for sure.

Thank you!
Kevin.